Russia Propaganda on Twitter: I'm making my first quick pass at the 2,973,371 tweets from 2,848 handles verified by Twitter to have come from Russia's Internet Research Agency.
I'd like to thank Clemson University professors Darren Linvill @DarrenLinvill and Patrick Warren @plwarre for compiling the data, and @FiveThirtyEight for making it available to people like me. fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-w…
My first pass at the nearly 3 million tweets was to look for those that reference Cliven Bundy and his family by searching for "bundy." I weeded out Ted, Ryan, Al, and others with the same name.
This initial search obviously misses tweets that use only their first names and those that were comments to other people's tweets where the Bundy name wouldn't appear at all.
That last group (where the subject is found in context rather than by name) would most likely the largest, so my data is not at all complete, but it's a reasonable start.
I found 246 records. Of these, 48% targeted left wing anger about the Bundy situation, usually on the subjects of race and education. 
Examples:
"Imagine the scene if this was a #BlackLivesMatter protest instead of a RWNJ White Boy "militia". #Oregon #BundyBoys
"Cliven Bundy's militia can threaten police with loaded guns, but Tamir Rice had to be killed for holding a toy?"
"Imagine the scene if this was a #BlackLivesMatter protest instead of a RWNJ White Boy "militia". #Oregon #BundyBoys
"Cliven Bundy's militia can threaten police with loaded guns, but Tamir Rice had to be killed for holding a toy?"
The hashtags used most were #BundyBoys and #OregonUnderAttack. They also used #OregonStandoff #YallQaeda #YeeHawdists #VanillaISIS #TaliBundy #Terrorists #UniteBlue .
Neutral tweets (posting a mainstream press article or a factual update without obvious spin) represent another 39%. The bulk of these came from fake media accounts such as KANSASDAILYNEWS PHOENIXDAILYNEWS RICHMONDPOST SEATTLE_VOICE DAILYLOSANGELES DAILYSANFRAN DALLASTOPNEWS
I was quite surprised by the number of phony media accounts. Their only purpose seemed to amplify certain stories.
The last group of tweets (13%) targeted right wing anger. Most of these were "patriot" accounts. These tended to push anti-Obama themes and contempt for liberals.
Examples:
"KING OBAMA, tyrant extraordinaire, Illegally Seizes Bundy Ranch Land Area as National Monument!"
"Where are the Feds? They were at Bundy ranch killing cows & shooting at Americans"
"KING OBAMA, tyrant extraordinaire, Illegally Seizes Bundy Ranch Land Area as National Monument!"
"Where are the Feds? They were at Bundy ranch killing cows & shooting at Americans"
This last group rarely used hashtags (a couple of #pjnet and #Bundys but they did use a lot of exclamation points. #MAGA was not used at all.
Other Observations:
Language usage was sometime awkward but spelling was far better than what I normally see on Twitter. Lots of exclamation points were sacrificed!!!
The Russian IRA tweets weren't subtle but then again, neither was the discourse surrounding Bundy events.
Language usage was sometime awkward but spelling was far better than what I normally see on Twitter. Lots of exclamation points were sacrificed!!!
The Russian IRA tweets weren't subtle but then again, neither was the discourse surrounding Bundy events.
The right wing number may seem low but most RW anti-government discussion occurs on Facebook and YouTube, not Twitter so if the IRA focused their efforts more on on those social media platforms, they were smart.
This is just an initial run. I'll be checking other subjects such as militias, gun culture, Antifa, popular conspiracy theories, and so on at a later date.
The account names associated with the tweets. All were suspended, but a couple of them have been used by new account holders probably not related to the Russian IRA.
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